Planning commission meeting draws full house

At a packed meeting last Tuesday in Saratoga Town Hall, the Saratoga Planning Commission addressed several citizens concerns about verbal complaints brought up during the zoning officers report at the November meeting.

Warden Patzer represented his store, Koyoty Sports at the meeting. With the move of the store to Bridge Ave. there have been verbal concerns about potential problems associated with taxidermy practices. Specific concerns brought to commissioner Rusty Rogers were about vermin that could come in on hides, odors and animal waste within close proximity to a restaurant.

Patzer addressed the new focus of the shop toward trophy room artistry and how animal hides received will be dealt with. Patzer stated that he will not be skinning any large animal hides at the shop and all hides will be frozen until they are mounted. “I am not proposing to do any of the large carcass skinning, such as mountain lions, bears, stuff like that. I am proposing to let the hunter take it to the packing plant and they can skin it, or they can skin it themselves. (Then the customer can) bring it in in a contained box or bag,” Patzer said.

Patzer’s plan seemed to satisfy the planning commissions concerns and no one in the audience voiced any specific concerns when prompted by Chairman Rory Grubb. The planning commission agreed that no official action was needed to allow Patzer to continue with work at his store. “I believe that, as long as you are doing what you are saying, I think everybody’s good with the retail sales, the gun sales, even the taxidermy as long as you do it in the way you are representing,” Grubb said.

Jennifer German was also present to defend the number of goats she has on her property. The planning commission made it clear to German that they were not trying to single her out as the sole person in violation of Ordinance 18.42.150 Horses, livestock and other barnyard animals.

The discussion surrounding German’s case brought to light a potential discrepancy between a 4-H and FFA clause in the ordinance and a year-round special use permit for the animals. The commission decided to reconsider the issue at their next meeting so that more research can be conducted into the needs of families with 4-H or FFA animals.

The livestock questions also brought up the point that ordinance 18.69.010 Permit Requirements includes language that special use permits can be reconsidered based on written complaints, but does not address verbal complaints. The pertinent section of the ordinance is:

“D. Term of Permit. All special use permits granted by the planning commission shall be made for the initial period not to exceed one year. Upon expiration of the initial period, the planning commission may take such action and extend the permit for such additional time as it may determine; provided, however, if a written complaint is filed with the zoning officer by a property owner within three-hundred foot radius of the perimeter of the property permitted, a public hearing before the planning commission identical to that required upon initial consideration of a special use permit application and with identical notice thereof shall be held before any extension of the special use permit beyond the initial period.”

Randy Raymer represented a piece of property he leases to Richard Raymer for the storage of portable toilets. Apparently a verbal complaint had been made that the toilets were supposed to be in a fenced area. Randy Raymer said that it was not his tenant’s responsibility to fence the area and said that as the property owner he would comply with the ordinance, but he did not like being singled out among others that were out of compliance. Randy Raymer also voiced his dislike of the fact that verbal complainants were not revealed during the process.

In a turn of focus for the meeting Raymer noted that enforcement of the nuisance ordinance and cleaning up trash around town properties was the biggest item of concern identified in the recent master plan survey. Randy Raymer volunteered to start by cleaning up his properties, saying, “If we want to start cleaning up our municipality, let’s start in my neighborhood, I’ll lead by example.”

Kent Smith suggested starting with the light industrial zone for code enforcement. “I think maybe what we should do is start with the light industrial section. Go through the entire light industrial section and give everybody notice to bring up their property to compliance,” Smith said. Smith noted that it is the smallest zoning district and one of the messiest.

The commission agreed that the light industrial properties would be a good starting place and a program could be developed by enacting enforcement one zone at a time until everywhere is up to code.

In other actions at the meeting a variance for Dan McGuire to build a new garage/shop on his property was approved by the commission. McGuire had received all of the necessary signatures approving of the variance from his neighbors since the November meeting.

Also discussed at the planning commission meeting were the ongoing ordinance proposals for home occupations and residential uses in retail and commercial business zones. Faust reported that the home occupation ordinance had passed its second reading before the town council. He added that some clarification of definitions in the ordinance might come at a later date.

When asked by a member of the public about residential uses in retail and commercial areas, Faust said, “We want to try to give folks that have residences within that zoned area the right, and really the express right, to improve their properties so long as they are not taking up more retail business space.” The commission also noted that they are trying to allow those with downtown businesses to have residential spaces secondary to the commercial use.

The commission was clear that a current residence in the retail zoned area can be sold and enjoy continued use as a residence. However, once a building is converted to a commercial space it will remain as a commercial building.

The proposed ordinance language is intended to give owners the full benefit of their property and encourage maintenance and improvement according to members of the planning commission. The commission voted to approve the new wording for accessory use in the retail business district and send that language on to the town attorney for review. They will review the entire ordinance at next months meeting.

The next regular meeting of the Saratoga Planning Commission is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 12 at Saratoga Town Hall.

Editor’s note:

The chairman and one member of the Saratoga Planning Commission made statements that the reporting of the November planning commission meeting were “improper” and that the verbal complaints submitted during the zoning officers report were not discussed. In fact, the verbal complaints were discussed for 12.5 minutes during the November 10 meeting. The Saratoga Sun will continue to report all aspects of issues brought up during public meetings.